Evangelical and Reformed Church

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"German Reformed" redirects here. For the German Reformed Church (RCUS), see Reformed Church in the United States. For the Reformed Church in Germany, see Protestant Church in Germany.
Evangelical and Reformed Church
United Protestant and Reformed
PolityPresbyterian
Origin1934
Merger ofEvangelical Synod and a majority of the Reformed Church in the United States
Merged intoUnited Church of Christ
Defunct1957
Congregations2,800 (1953)
Members700,000 (1953)
Seminaries

The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a

Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA).[1] A minority within the RCUS remained out of the merger in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches (CC) to form the United Church of Christ
(UCC).

History

Origins

Both the Reformed Church and Evangelical Synod originated in the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Nearly all their churches in the United States were established by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland. In 1934, both bodies united to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Reformed Church in the United States

Main article: Reformed Church in the United States

18th century

The Reformed Church in the United States, long known as the German Reformed Church, organized its first synod in 1747 and adopted a constitution in 1793.[1]

The

Sunday Schools
and occasionally ministers.

19th century

Up until the early 19th century, Reformed churches ministered to

Arminian
group.

A backlash set in, however, against revivals in the form of the

Anglo-Catholic movement in Anglicanism
but within a Reformation vein.

Some leaders, however, saw this platform as an attempt to impose

Philadelphia and thus motivated by Anti-Catholicism, objected strenuously to the Mercersburg reforms, going so far as to establish a separate seminary now known as Ursinus College. After temporarily causing the Ohio Synod to withdraw from the church, tensions mounted until compromises were worked out and parishes of either low or high church
persuasion were allowed to practice their preferences peacefully.

A later group of

Americanized themselves, theologically as well as linguistically. These immigrants did not participate in the Mercersburg/Ursinus struggle; their theological persuasion was decidedly confessionalist, holding to a fairly strict interpretation of the Heidelberg Catechism
.

20th century

In the 1910s, a small group of immigrant

Magyar
synod. The convictions of some members were so strong that a few churches in that group, most of which were in South Dakota, defected immediately prior to the 1934 merger, influenced by such strict confessionalism, a belief in biblical inerrancy, and a fear of losing their Reformed roots. That group retained the name Reformed Church in the United States.[2]

This

Protestant mainline, sending missionaries overseas and operating health and welfare institutions, including hospitals, orphanages, and nursing homes, throughout much of the United States. Further, the Reformed did some work among Native Americans
in Wisconsin. The RCUS' constituency composed slightly over half of the membership of the new denomination in 1934.

Evangelical Synod of North America

Main article: Evangelical Synod of North America

19th century

The Evangelical Synod of North America was founded in 1840 at Gravois Settlement in Missouri, by a union of Reformed and Lutheran Christians in a manner similar to the creation of the Prussian Union in the early 19th century.[1] In its early years, this union was known as the German Evangelical Church Association of the West.

The epicenter of the component Evangelical tradition was and remains within the UCC in

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in opposition to the syncretism they believed the Evangelicals represented. Almost all other of the contemporaneous Germans were Roman Catholic
.

Although their faith was chiefly the product of a forced union by the government in

Prussian
militarism.

Even to a greater degree than the Reformed, the Evangelicals became most noted among American Protestants for their establishment and staunch support of hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. Probably most similar among English-speaking Protestant groups to the

catechizing young people for the rite of confirmation
, a rite still cherished highly to this day by congregations deriving from ESNA roots.

20th century

Reflecting a later generation of immigration, the German language persisted for several generations in most congregations before such services were gradually phased out in the era between World War I and World War II, due in part to anti-German sentiment among some Americans.

In 1919, they began missionary efforts in Honduras, establishing what is now called the Evangelical and Reformed Church in Honduras .[3]

In terms of governance, the Evangelicals most resembled American Lutheranism of the time, with high regard for the pastor's authority but essentially congregational in structure, with a lay council handling temporal matters such as property and benevolences.

Merger with Congregational Christian Churches

In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches to form the UCC. The Rev. James Wagner was the last president of the denomination. Upon the union on June 25 of that year, he became, along with former Congregational Christian general minister Fred Hoskins, a co-president of the UCC. He and Hoskins held these positions until 1961, when the UCC constitution was ratified by the Evangelical and Reformed synods and the requisite percentage of CC congregations. About 40 percent of the members in the new denomination were members of the E&R Church, about 2800 churches and 700,000 members.[4]

Organization and theology

The Evangelical and Reformed Church was generally presbyterian in organization,[1] although it allowed for a great deal of local congregational decision-making than more typical Reformed bodies such as Presbyterianism or the Reformed Church in America did. The church organized into some 30 or so regional synods, culminating in a national General Synod that met annually.

The church used several creeds: the Heidelberg Catechism, Martin Luther's catechisms, and the early Lutheran Augsburg Confession; Evangelical and Reformed leaders allowed great latitude in interpretation.[1] In the main, Evangelical and Reformed congregations emphasized piety and service rather than legalistic soteriology or orthodox dogma. Styles of worship ranged from revivalism (especially in Ohio and North Carolina) to a Lutheran-like liturgicism (the Mercersburg Movement found primarily in central Pennsylvania parishes). Generally speaking, the theological outlook of most ministers was largely accepting of liberal trends in Protestant doctrine and higher biblical criticism, although some pockets of conservative revivalistic pietism and confessionalist Calvinism could be found.

Educational institutions

As with most Protestant denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed church maintained educational institutions and foreign missions. Affiliated educational institutions included the

Heidelberg College in Ohio
.

An Evangelical and Reformed seminary, Mission House, previously located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, joined with the school of theology of South Dakota's Yankton College, a Congregational Christian institution, to form the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in the early 1960s. The seminary set up operations in New Brighton, Minnesota, outside St. Paul. In the early 1930s Central Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, a previous merger of Ursinus and Heidelberg Seminaries, was merged with Eden Seminary.

In 1946, in cooperation with three other denominations, it formed the United Andean Indian Mission, an agency that sent missionaries to Ecuador.

Famous members

The list includes members of United Church of Christ congregations of Evangelical and Reformed heritage.

United States President Theodore Roosevelt attended Washington D.C.'s Grace Reformed Church, an Evangelical and Reformed congregation. Roosevelt originally belonged to the Reformed Church in America (RCA), a Dutch-American group. Since there were no RCA congregations in Washington, he chose Grace Reformed as perhaps the church most similar liturgically and theologically to Dutch Calvinism.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Evangelical and Reformed Church". The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
  2. ^ "The History of the RCUS Since the 1934 Merger". www.rcus.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-29. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
  3. ^ "Evangelical and Reformed Church in Honduras". Archived from the original on 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  4. ^ "CADMAN MEM'L CONG. SOC. OF BROOKLYN v. Kenyon". Justia Law. Retrieved 2024-03-27.

Further reading

  • A History of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, David Dunn, et al.; Lowell H. Zuck, foreword. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1990.
  • The Shaping of the United Church of Christ: An Essay in the History of American Christianity, Louis H. Gunnemann; Charles Shelby Rooks, ed. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1999.
  • Builders of Our Foundations - A History of the First Evangelical Church of the Synod, Henry Bode, D.D.; Webster Groves, Missouri: self-published, 1940
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evangelical_and_Reformed_Church&oldid=1215780335"